


Worth Waiting For

by Colorkiller



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Cheating, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 04:46:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20886344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Colorkiller/pseuds/Colorkiller
Summary: “I—“ he pauses, pressing his lips together in thought, trying to pretend it’s not something he’s thought every single day since their pre casa amor split.  “I never did understand why you took him back.” He admits.“Yeah.” She lets out a breath she seems to have been holding in.“Everything would have been different.  My feelings didn’t just go away because you did, you know.”“Do you still...” she trails off.“It doesn’t bear mentioning.” He replies, a little tersely.  “You’re happy with Lucas.”





	Worth Waiting For

**Author's Note:**

> "No more angst," I said. Well, that was a fucking lie.  
I kind of proofread this. Like, sort of. So if there's mistakes, I apologize. Continuity errors? Well, I'm just trying to be true to the story. ;)  
anyway, this is a set up to a one shot idea that's been kicking around in my head, as long as y'all are still going to be reading after next week...i'm a slow, slow writer. this old mare just ain't what she used to be. 
> 
> anyway, i thank you all for reading. i'll stfu now, hope you enjoy!

** _The phone call_ **

MC paced the room as she dialed. It had been a day since she’d won Love Island with Lucas at her side. Three rings. An answer.

“Hello, who’s—“

“Bobby? Bobby, it’s MC, you know, from Love Island!” As if he’d already forgotten her.

“MC...” he hesitates, and for a moment, she thinks perhaps he really has forgotten her. She doesn’t know that on the other end, he’s grinning, his cheeks flushed. “Oh, right!” He’s too good at pretending. “Congratulations, by the way!”

“It is so good to hear your voice, do you know that?”

“Really?” Try as he might, he can’t hide the surprise in his tone. Of all the people she should be calling, him? “You must have already gone through your phone book, then.”

“Er...” He can tell, even over the phone, even through the distance, that she’s uncomfortable. “No, you’re the first. Well, after my parents, but can I—“ she cuts herself off. “Anyway, I just...if you’re ever in London, stop round mine, I’d love to have you for tea.” 

“Won’t Lucas mind?” He asks. 

“Huh?” Not the answer Bobby expected. “Oh, no, of course not, why would he?” It’s like MC doesn’t even know Lucas.

“You’ll be the first to know next I’m in London, MC!” His voice is bright and cheery, but he’s stuck on how strange MC seems. He writes it off as nothing, but she begins calling him once or twice a week, just to chat about the mundane, or to vent, and he begins doing the same. 

She’s easy to talk to, and there’s always been something between them, even if Lucas had been successful in stealing her away from him so long ago. Oh, to let bygones be bygones. 

“The reunion is coming up!” The text lights up his phone. 

“Are you excited?” He replies.

“Only as long as you’ll be there xx” 

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” 

Kisses. MC had sent him kisses. What was happening? Then, he realized, he’d forgotten something. “I’ll be in London Saturday” 

The text back with her address was instant. “Pop by round 10 in the morning! Can not WAIT to see you! x”

** _Just before the reunion _ **

Bobby fixed his collar in the mirror of the train station bathroom before making his way to a cab. His nerves were on edge as he stood before MC’s door, but he steeled himself to knock. 

She opened the door, breathlessly, before pulling him into a warm hug. “Come in, come in!” She ushers him in and sits with him on her couch. “Do you want anything to drink?” She asks, and he shakes his head no. “Oh, I am so happy to see you!” 

“You look amazing! I don’t know how it’s possible, but you seem to be aging in reverse, MC!”

She blushes, hiding her face behind one of her hands. She notices him looking around her living room, as though searching for signs of a boyfriend. Lucas.

“How are things with—“

“Everything is great with me, really!” She cuts him off. “But I’m more interested in you! I heard you’re opening a bakery down the road?” She perks an eyebrow.

“Oh, that? It’s nothing, just that there was a lot of demand, I’ll hardly need to be here.” He notices the fleeting sad look on her face. “But I’m sure I’ll be in to check on it a lot.”

“I can’t wait to try it.” She’s earnest, beaming again. She looks positively radiant, and he still wonders why she won’t talk about Lucas. 

“Can I ask you something?” She bites her lip, and he can see she’s searching for courage. “Without you judging me or thinking less of me?” Her eyes fall to her lap.

“Of course. I could never think less of you.”

“Do you think...” she shakes her head, seeming to laugh at herself. “Oh, it’s silly, never mind.” 

“I’m sure it’s not.” He looks around again, as though expecting Lucas to appear.

“We don’t live together.” She tells him suddenly, and he fixes her with a steady gaze. “I thought it foolish to move in with someone so soon...it hasn’t even been a year yet.” 

“You always were the sensible one.” 

“So were you! When you’d take five minutes to be serious for a change!” She teased. 

“What were you going to ask me?” He’s been fixated on that, and she flushes again. 

“Oh, I’m just a little fool.” She tells him vaguely, and he leans in. 

“I doubt that.” He waits, quietly, and she finally relents.

“Do you think things would have been different if we’d gotten back together in there?” She says it so quickly that he knows she’s scared of the answer, scared of her own feelings, scared of everything.

“I—“ he pauses, pressing his lips together in thought, trying to pretend it’s not something he’s thought every single day since their pre casa amor split. “I never did understand why you took him back.” He admits. 

“Yeah.” She lets out a breath she seems to have been holding in. 

“Everything would have been different. My feelings didn’t just go away because you did, you know.”

“Do you still...” she trails off.

“It doesn’t bear mentioning.” He replies, a little tersely. “You’re happy with Lucas.”

“Sure.” She knows better. She sees the sadness behind those golden eyes. That familiar flicker of vulnerability. MC was the one who got away. She can’t bear to tell him that she and Lucas hadn’t stopped fighting since the finale, and that she’s spoken to no one but Bobby and Lottie, not even Chelsea, and she’s breaking up with Lucas tonight—

“Are you alright?” He asks, and she snaps out of it. 

“Of course! Won’t you stay for lunch?” He smiles. Of course he will. Anything to put a smile on her face.

** _The reunion_ **

Bobby stands with a group of people at a bar near a beach. What a place for the reunion, he thought. A private bar, some of his closest friends. 

“Where’s MC?” He heard Hope asking Lucas. Lottie caught Bobby’s glance across the room. 

“I—we—“ Lucas falters, and the room becomes a chorus of “I haven’t heard from her since—“ “she hasn’t even appeared in the papers—“ “has she talked to you?” “No, not you?” 

Suddenly, he’s beside Lottie, and the room is turning to stare at them. “How about you, Lottie?” Chelsea asks. 

“Nope, haven’t heard from her.” 

“Bobby?” 

“No, me neither.” But he was lying, and when he turned to meet Lottie’s gaze, he knew she was, too.

“You haven’t heard, have you, Bobby?” Lottie whispers in his ear. “She broke up with Lucas.” 

“She—What?” He tries hard not to look ecstatic, relieved, but Lottie catches it anyway. She’s just too damn intuitive. 

“Don’t look so excited. Don’t you speak with her like, on the daily? How did you not know?” 

“I...Er...” he’s interrupted by the door opening to reveal MC, clad in a knee length, gold dress with a plunging neckline and a slit that went nearly to her waist. 

“So sorry I’m late!” She calls, bustling to the bar and ordering a double shot of whiskey. She catches Bobby’s gaze just before she downs it in one gulp, and time stops. 

However, in the next instant, she’s sucked into a vortex of all the island alumni except for him and Lucas, clamoring to find out where she’s been and why no one’s heard from her. 

Lucas meets Bobby at the bar. 

“So she...” Bobby starts, and Lucas looks over at him, and for the first time, Bobby notices that his shirt is lopsided and his eyes are bloodshot. “Mate, are you alright?” 

“Yeah, I will be.” He orders a drink and pulls at it. 

“So I heard...”

“Yes, she broke up with me. No, I don’t want to talk about it.” Lucas turns away, and Bobby sighs to himself. He needs a double shot, too. 

“Shot?” He asks Lucas, who happily accepts. They drink it down, before Bobby realizes he’s being tugged away. 

“Come on.” Its Lottie. 

“What?” The next thing he knows, he’s standing outside the bar, shoes sinking into sand. Alone. What the hell just happened?

MC appears at his elbow. 

“Sorry, it would have looked bad if we just left together.” She explains. “So Lottie told you.” 

“She did. How are you holding up?”

“Oh, I’ve been better.” She admits. 

“You don’t look it.” 

“Oh?” She almost looks offended.

“No! I meant, you look stunning. You’re...you’re glowing.” 

“I break up well.” She admits. “I’ve got a heart of ice. Evidently.” She looks at the sand, digging the toe of her shoe into it. 

“I never thought that.” He takes her hand in his, hoping beyond hope he’s not being too forward, too bold, and it’s a miracle to him that she squeezes it. 

“You didn’t?”

“You have a heart of gold. I...I never saw you as an ice queen. More of a lava queen.” 

She laughs, thinking of a memory. For him it’s: Music. Fireworks behind his eyelids. How does she have this effect on him? 

“MC, I—“ he’s interrupted by the door opening. 

“Babe, can I steal you away?”

Hannah leans out, hesitant to get her heels caught in the sand. MC smiles sadly at Bobby before turning back to her. “I’ll be there in a moment!” Hannah beams and turns back inside. MC leans closer to Bobby, pulling him into a warm hug. Her cheek brushes against his, and her hair smells like lavender and vanilla. He breathes in deeply, forgetting how much he always loved the scent of her, until now. 

“I’ve missed you,” she breathes, her wide eyes taking him in. She leans in again, and for a moment, he thinks she might kiss him, but she pulls back at the last second. “I should go to her.” She tells him, and a strange expression flits across her face. He nods slowly. 

He follows her in, but walks to the bar while she finds Hannah so they can catch up. They’re dangerously close to one another, faces flushed, noses nearly touching as they chat and laugh together. He’s captivated, unable to tear his eyes from her. She never manages to make her way back to him, despite her best efforts. 

MC left the reunion with Hannah. He didn’t hear from her for weeks. Weeks of wishing for her voice, a text, any sign of life, but all he got were tabloid rumors. “MC and Hannah spotted at ——“ “are Hannah and MC an item?!”

Rumors began to veer into truth when finally, she called him out of the blue, just after he’d finished recording his first ever live baking segment. 

“Bobby!” She was breathless, exuberant. 

“Hey, stranger!” He grinned, cradling his phone between his chin and shoulder. 

“I just saw your segment.” She sounded tired, and he wondered where she was. “You looked great! I wanted to congratulate you!!” 

“I was absolutely bricking it up there!” He laughs, and she laughs with him. “So, you and Hannah.”

“Me and Hannah.” She sighs, and the line is silent for a time. She yawns. “The rumors are true.” She tells him simply. 

“Good for you, I’m glad you’re happy.” He still feels a pang in his chest, a hole where he wishes she fit in. 

“Thank you, Bobby, that means the world.” He suddenly realizes she’s slurring her words just slightly. Is she drunk? “Just wish your segment weren’t on so late. It’s like 3am here.”

“Where are you?”

“Chicago. We just played a show not too long ago.”

“How did you—“

“I streamed it. Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Hey, Bobby?”

“Yeah?” He realizes she sounds starkly sober all of a sudden. 

“I love you.” Before he has a chance to process or begin to respond, the line clicks dead. He stares at his phone in shock, eyes huge. 

He instantly hits the call back button, but it rings endlessly with no response. With a huff, he resigns himself to texting. 

“You can’t just drop a bomb like that and hang up on me.” 

He’s sleepless that night, tossing and turning and trying to make sense of it. If she was happy with Hannah, why would she tell him that, only to hang up immediately? Maybe, he considered, she’d needed to be drunk to admit her feelings. But why give him hope if she was with Hannah? She looked so happy in all the pictures. 

Bobby was woken from his hard won slumber by the harsh, shrill ringing of his cell phone. He’d been meaning to change his ringtone for days, but something always distracted him. MC’s face and name appeared on the screen, and he leapt to answer it. Finally, he thought, an explanation. 

“Hey.” He answers. 

“Hey,” she says, softly. There’s a long pause. “Look, about last night.” 

“Yeah, about last night.” He’s sitting bolt upright, one hand pressed against the wall. “What the hell did you mean by that?” 

“I’m really sorry--I just--” she hesitates. “I’m in a really weird headspace, and I didn’t mean to drag you into it.” 

“So you didn’t mean it.” He laughs harshly. “Maybe you should just leave me--” 

“No!” Her voice is shrill, almost desperate. “I did mean it. Oh, I’m doing a shit job of this, I should have led with that. Maybe you’re right and I should just leave you alone. This is just...complex.” 

“What’s so bad, MC?” He asks, trying and failing to sound sincere. 

“I thought maybe you would understand, but I guess it’s best if I leave you be.” She sighs heavily. “I’m really, really sorry if I’ve hurt you. I’m being a right fool, and I just--” He can practically hear the tears in her voice, threatening to turn to sobs. “I thought maybe you, of all people, would get that this is complicated and hard for me to understand, but I’m stupid for thinking that.” She clicks off the line before he gets the chance to respond.

“God dammit, MC.” He mutters, shaking his head.

** _Baked goods and devotion to lost causes _ **

Bobby had been baking all morning. For some reason, his hands, of all things, were getting tired of kneading, and so, he decided to hang out in the front of the shop. An hour of wrapping cupcakes passed before  _ she  _ walked in. 

He’d recognize those windswept curls anywhere. MC looked startled when she locked eyes with him. 

“Oh my god, hi, Bobby!” She’s blustery, grinning cheerfully, as if she didn’t send him through the most confusing loops. 

He steps out from behind the counter, but stops himself from hugging her, even though she’s still going for it. 

“If you do that, you’ll cover yourself in frosting!” He warns her, and she jumps back. 

“Oh!” She assesses his apron, coated in chocolate frosting. “You’re right.” She stares at him quietly, as though lost for words. 

“So, what can I get for you?” He asks. 

“What do you recommend for...repairing relationships?” She asks, bowing her head, clearly embarrassed. 

“Trouble in paradise? Already?” He asks. 

“It’s been two years.” MC’s gaze is unwavering. Where has the time gone, he wonders dimly. 

“Red velvet cupcakes, definitely, and I happen to know where you can find the best in town.” He’s beaming. 

“And the frosting?” 

“Only the best cream cheese frosting in the UK.” Still beaming. His face hurts. 

“I’ll need a dozen.” She sighs. 

“Coming right up, with a side of I miss you.” 

“What?” MC’s jaw drops, and Bobby just turns to package up her cupcakes. 

As he hands them to her, MC reaches for her wallet. 

“These are on me.” He tells her, holding out the box. For a moment, he swears he spots tears sparkling in her eyes. For a moment, just a moment, he wants to shake her, tell her to snap out of it, come to her senses and see who’s been there all along. But he just beams until his face  _ really  _ hurts, with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but she doesn’t notice because she’s already gone. Running down the street. 

He doesn’t know it but she cries the entire way home. 

** _London_ **

He sees her every time he’s in London, and he’s there so often lately he considers getting a flat instead of always staying in hotels. He tries to avoid her, but they’re like magnets to each other. He can’t deny that it hurts him a little more every time he sees her and she only smiles and doesn’t say a word. She doesn’t call and she doesn’t write. 

He doesn’t understand how she doesn’t realize what it’s doing to him. Bobby tries to avoid London, but he’s called there every other week. There’s so much there for him he doesn’t know why he doesn’t just stay, but he does know. 

He can’t bear to live in the same space as her if she doesn’t feel the same way about him.

** _Disaster _ **

As she dialed the phone, she prayed silently to herself.  _ Please let him be in London tonight, please let him be in London tonight.  _

“Hello?” His voice is just as beautiful as ever. 

“Bobby, where are you right now?” Her voice is urgent, she’s speaking quickly. 

“London, I just got back to my--” 

“I need you to come over, now.” 

“But, MC--” 

“Please, Bobby,” she practically whispers, and he can almost feel his heart stop. She’s never sounded like this before. Something happened. 

“I’ll be right there.” 

When he gets to her flat, there’s broken glass and things thrown all around. MC kneels in the living room, staring at her hands, tears streaming down her face. One hand is bleeding, slightly, as she struggles to piece everything together. 

“MC, what the hell happened?” He’s standing above her, a paragon of protection. She looks up at him, opens her mouth to speak, but shakes her head. She’s still processing it, still trying to figure out why. 

He lifts her to her feet from her armpits, and she collapses in his arms, weeping into his neck. He holds her, running his hands soothingly down her back. After a time, she calms down enough to speak. 

“I can’t be here right now.” She tells him. He takes her to the kitchen, assessing the cut on her hand. 

“Do you need to--” 

“There’s a first aid kit in the pantry.” She tells him, and he leaves her by the sink to go and get it. He helps her to sit on the counter, and she sighs softly as he cleans her wound, winces when he cleans it with alcohol. “Please, get me out of here.” She begs quietly.

He takes her to his hotel room, against his better judgment. Something about her is just so raw, so hurt, he can’t say no to anything she asks. She settles into the rocking chair next to his bed, and he hands her a blanket. He perches on the edge of the bed. 

“What happened, MC?” 

“I found them in bed together.” She covers her face with her hands. “I’m so stupid, Bobby.” 

“You’re not stupid.” He frowns. “Who?” 

“Hannah and Lucas. I came home early from my tour and…” She shakes her head. “There they were, as you can imagine, and Hannah’s all ‘I can explain’...” she shudders. “You’re literally rooting with my ex in my bed, there’s nothing to explain.” 

“MC, I’m so sorry.” He offers his arms, and she folds into them perfectly. How many times had he recalled just how perfectly they’d fit together? But the timing had never been right. And yet again, it probably wasn’t right. 

She pulled herself away, resolving to tell the entire story. She needed to. 

_ MC walked through the door of her flat, expecting it to be empty. Hannah shouldn’t be home from work for another hour or two, so she had time to get changed and showered to look nice and fresh for her.  _

_ She heard voices and...was that moaning? From the bedroom and frowned. What on earth was going on? She made her way to the door, flinging it open only to find Hannah and Lucas in the throes of passionate lovemaking.  _

_ “What the actual fuck.” MC practically blacks out, and Hannah shrieks, reaching to pull a duvet to cover herself. “Oh, fuck that!” She rips the duvet away, and starts pulling Hannah’s things from hangers and drawers. “Get your things and get out.”  _

_ “Babe, I can explain!” Hannah extricates herself from Lucas, who looks oddly smug in this moment.  _

_ “I don’t give a fuck about your explanations. It’s over for me.” She throws the gorgeous vases Hannah had bought her when she moved in on the floor. They crash and break with a satisfying sound. Hannah has pulled on a robe, and follows her.  _

_ “MC, don’t! Those were expensive!” She protests. “They meant a--”  _

_ “Clearly you care more about them than you did about me.” MC is on a rampage. She pulls every last dish and breakable Hannah ever bought her out to fling them on the ground. “I’m just making your move easier. You should be thanking me.”  _

_ “What the hell is wrong with you?” Her eyes are huge, and she tugs at her hair in frustration. “Why won’t you talk about this with me?”  _

_ “What’s there to talk about, Hannah?” MC spins to face her, and the expression she wears causes Hannah to yelp in shock. “I caught you in bed with my ex. How can you explain that away when I know what I saw?” She shakes her head, laughing harshly. “I should have fucking known this would happen.” MC turns away, continuing her mission of chaos.  _

_ “MC, please, I love you so much.” Hannah pleads with her, and MC rolls her eyes and snorts.  _

_ “I’m so sure.” _

_ Lucas finally makes his way into the picture, fully clothed if a little disheveled.  _

_ “MC, this is my fault.” He tells her, and she turns to him, glaring fiercely.  _

_ “I don’t give a shit whose fault it is. The outcome doesn’t change. This is something I cannot and will not forgive nor tolerate.” She shakes her head. “And if this was some petty scheme to get back at me, congratulations, Lucas, I’m gutted.” MC takes a step toward him, and he takes a step back. “But you shouldn’t have dragged Hannah into it.”  _

_ “But--”  _

_ “Get out of my home.” MC growls. “And take her with you.” MC has run out of things to break at this point, and she sits at the kitchen table, waiting impatiently for them to leave so she can cry in private.  _

_ Hannah finally emerges with Lucas, and they’re both carrying all the luggage they can muster. She hesitates for a moment before moving to the kitchen table. “MC, I’m really sorry that I hurt you.” She tells her. She seems sincere. Her eyes are puffy and red rimmed like she’s been crying. MC looks up at her passively. “I’ll come back for the rest of my things tomorrow.”  _

_ “I’ll try not to be here.” MC replies. “Leave your key on the table.” Her voice is quiet, strained. Hannah realizes now that she’s holding back tears. She thinks better of trying again to get her back, and instead leaves with Lucas.  _

“From then until I called you, I have no idea what happened.” MC admits. “I blacked out in my rage, I guess.”

Bobby sits beside her and rubs her back gently. 

“Maybe I deserved it.” MC mused. “I’m gone so often and so long...but I tried so hard to make this work.” She lurches forward as her body is racked with fresh sobs. “Why am I not good enough?” He swears he hears her say, and he pulls her back. 

“You’re good enough.” He tells her simply. “It’s not your fault this happened.”

“What do I even do?” She moans. “I don’t know where to go. I--” She looks at him, as if seeing him in a new light. 

“The timing has never been right for us.” He tells her. That look is not lost on him. She shakes her head. “And you…” He frowns. “You’ve been messing with my head for all this time, I haven’t forgotten.” He narrows his eyes at her. 

“I’ve! What?” She pulls back, sitting up straighter. 

“You dropped the L-bomb and then straight up disappeared! You were never clear about where you stood with Lucas, every time I think the timing is right, you end up with someone else--and that’s exactly what’s going to happen this time!” 

“Bobby,” she starts, but he cuts her off. 

“Maybe it is best if we go our separate ways.” He tells her. She looks as if she’s been punched in the stomach repeatedly. She stands up, wringing her hands as she stands before the window. She knows he doesn’t mean it, even if he looks the part. 

“Bobby, I…” she parts the curtains to stare out into the city before turning back to him. “I meant it when I said I love you. I have loved you for so long, Bobby.” He studies her face intently, but she’s unwavering. She means it. “Like you said, it doesn’t just go away because we’re not together.” 

“You said that, first.” He points out. 

“But this is so complicated.” 

“MC. It’s now or never.” He stands before her, not moving to touch her. “And I mean it. I can’t keep getting hurt by you just because you don’t know what you want. If we don’t go for it now, I’m not giving you another chance. I’m moving on for good.” 

“You haven’t been waiting for me all this time, have you?” Her eyes widen, and he can’t help laughing. 

“Not at all.” He’s honest. “But none of them ever loved me for me.” He shrugs, brushing it off. 

“I can’t make this decision right now, Bobby, how can I?” She’s on the verge of ripping the fabric of her shirt apart. 

“Then I guess it’s never, MC, isn’t it?” He looks calm, but she sees that sadness just behind his golden eyes, the way his right eyelid is quivering just slightly, his lower lip trembling just before he bites it. She already knows what she wants, who she’s wanted all along.

“It’s not never.” She sits down on an ottoman heavily. “It’s more, I need five minutes to breathe. How can you ask this of me when I literally just had my heart torn out and stomped on?” She stares at him incredulously. 

“And how can you do it to me over and over again and not bat an eye?”

“I’m still not understanding this!” 

“MC, it hurt me to see you unhappy. If I knew you were happy, it wasn’t so bad, I could let you go.” He sighs. “But then you had to dig in, had to keep me close, as if I was just an option! An afterthought!” 

“I never knew I could have you!” She practically shouts, leaping to her feet, her hands balled into fists at her hips. “I thought, after everything I’ve been through, everything I’ve done, I thought you’d never want me again! How could you? Look at what a mess I’ve made.” She makes for the door, but he’s quicker, and he leans against the door, stopping her from leaving. 

“Don’t say things like that.” He still doesn’t make to touch her in anyway. She steps back, still fuming. 

“How?” She shakes her head. “How was I supposed to know when you never gave me a sign? I told you how I felt, and you--you accused me of not meaning it!” She’s pacing the room. “What am I supposed to do? Show up on your doorstep at that point? I felt like I was laying it all on the line for you and you brushed it off like it was nothing!” 

“It wasn’t nothing.” 

“That’s how I felt, alright! Things were rocky with Hannah, I was considering breaking it off, but when that happened, I lost the plot and decided to try and make it work. And that still didn’t make it work.” 

“Those cupcakes were just a bandaid, then?” He wants to hold her, but he’s still so angry. “Basically, you’re just saying you’re ready to give us a chance so that excuses all this time you’ve led me on and fucked around with my head and heart.” 

“Christ, maybe we’ve both lost the plot!” MC fumes, utterly exasperated. “I’ve been ready to give us a chance since--since--oh god, the moment I saw you! And now--Bobby, for fuck’s sake, it’s now!” She’s somewhere between laughing and crying, and he’s still standing by the door with his mouth open. “I was  _ never  _ leading you on because I’ve always wanted you.” She finally tells him, striding across the room. 

“Are you sure?” He’s trembling, and she takes his face in her hands gingerly. 

“More sure than I’ve been about anything in my entire life.” She runs her thumb over his cheek, blushing deeply. “I just...I always figured it was too late, and you were over me, and--” 

He interrupts her with a kiss. He doesn’t know where it came from, or why, he only knows it’s the only thing he’s wanted to do for months, years, even. 

She melts into his kiss, and they lose all sense of time or location. When finally they draw away, she’s sobbing. 

“Are we really doing this, Bobby?” She asks softly, wiping her tears away. Even though he’s completely confused, he nods. 

“You’d butter believe it.” 

She groans and smacks her forehead, but she’s grinning. “Is it too late to change my mind?” She asks, and he pulls her into his arms. 

“Yeah.” He kisses the top of her head tenderly. “It is.” 

“Fine, because this? This is all I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember.” 

“Me too.” He breathes, before sighing. “But I’m still mad at you.” He tells her. 

“What?” 

“Just...let me talk for a minute.” He bites his lip, seeming to ready himself. “Look, all those times I saw you in London streets...you always smiled but looked so unhappy. I just don’t get why...if you weren’t happy, why you didn’t call. You went from calling me every day to calling me never, and it hurt, MC.” He’s frowning. “We were supposed to be friends, but you--” he backs away, hugging himself. 

“Bobby, I…” 

“I’m not done.” he narrows his eyes for a moment. “You wouldn’t even talk to me about any of this, and you never gave me an explanation for why. I just...I missed you all the time, and I didn’t even know if you were okay.” 

“I’m sorry.” She bows her head, sighing. “Look, I--I was wrestling with my feelings for you, and trying not to let on to Hannah that that was what I was doing--but it must have been obvious. I never knew how jealous she was until she told me I couldn’t talk to you anymore.” 

“So you didn’t?” 

“I tried. God, I tried.” MC shakes her head. “We got in a massive row when she found out I called you from Chicago.” 

“How did she--” 

“I let it slip when I was drinking one night.” MC sighs. “I’ve been such a mess for so long, you don’t even know.” She looks up at him. “Are you still mad?” 

“I--” he frowns thoughtfully. “I’m starting to get over it.” 

MC breathes a sigh of relief. “You are  _ terrifying  _ when you’re mad.” 

“I’ve heard that before.” His eyes are still wide in surprise. She’s always the one he’s been afraid of. Afraid of making her cry or frown, afraid of her leaving this room and never returning. Afraid that she’ll never see how much he loves her. 

“Like a hurricane.” She smiles. “I feel like I’m just in the eye of the storm.” 

“Maybe.” He winks.

“What else are you mad about?” She huffs in feigned exasperation. 

“That you didn’t come to your senses a lot sooner than this.” 

“Oh, shut up.” She kisses him, and he deepens the kiss instinctively. 

“Marry me.” he retorts, she just laughs. 

“Lottie’s ordained, I’ll call her right up.” She giggles, but perks a brow when she realizes he looks serious. “Wait, do you really want to do this?” 

“I do…” he pauses, and she can’t help giggling harder. “But we should sleep on it.” 

She nods, and as he holds her, he can’t stop thinking about how perfectly they fit together. How their hands just slide right into place. How her skin is the perfect cool temperature to balance out his hot hands. 

“You should be mad at me.” She finally tells him. “All this time, I’ve been chasing love when it was always here.” She kisses him, wrapping herself around him. “But you should be mad at yourself for not telling me sooner.” 

“Let’s just go to bed, MC.” He’s grinning as they climb under the covers. It’s not even that late, but they’re both so tired that sleep isn’t hard to find. 

In the morning, they can hash out the details. In the morning, maybe they’ll call Lottie and ask her to officiate an impromptu wedding. In the morning, things will seem brighter, and clearer. 

For now, all Bobby knows is that finally, he has all he’s ever needed right there in his arms. 


End file.
